Great article. This may sound a bit homerish, but I still think its true...I'm very interested to see how the Saints are going to be portrayed in the media. I doubt very little the mass majority of them will give us any credit bc the typical line I read on pre-season reports is "the defense may just be too tough to overcome." I agree theres still huge question marks there, but theres only going to be room for improvement. I think the true football gurus will know that the Saints aren't going to be anything to mess around with this year. It's really been since 2009 that we've had this "quiet" and focused of an offseason. You have to know behind closed doors Payton and Brees are scheming their asses off to make the NFL just look silly. I know with this incredibly daunting of a schedule, theres just no way we repeat the Pats success in 07. But hey, I'll take a 12-4 regular season if we take the Lombardi home. I have a special feeling about this season..I just hope I'm right.

Excited about the defense. I felt Greer held up well last year considering he is a man corner playing zone, with no pass rush and no safety help. I feel he and Lewis will be a great tandem.

I know Vilma is showing as starter I believe on depth chart with ILB,but I feel he and Hawthorne will both be solid. I was actually more excited last year about the Hawthorne pickup than Lofton, then he gets hurt and plays Sam which he normally doesnt. Lofton is a beast though as is Cam Jordan.

I feel the Ben Watson pickup is a very underrated pickup and if he and Graham stay healthy will be devastating to defenses this year.

Kinda crazy but I'm more concerned about kicker than anything right now Competition is gonna be fun to watch this camp at LT position also.

The defense is still what's holding this team from getting back to the Super Bowl, but the whole team will play better now that SP is back to run things. I know I'm not breaking any news when I saw his return will be the biggest reason why they will be improved on both sides of the ball. His demeanor & competitive streak rubs off on the team and I look to them taking on his identity & attitude again. That's what I look forward too the most. September 8th is going to be Hell for the Falcons I think.

quote:The defense is still what's holding this team from getting back to the Super Bowl

While I agree, I think people tend to overlook how incredibly inconsistent the offense was last year. While the defense was absolutely terrible, the offense didn't help them one bit. Take a look at a few games: Washington: the offense absolutely died while RG3 and company kept piling on point after point. By the time Drew got it in gear, it was too late. Carolina: pick 6 killed any and all momentum we had. defense got torn up that day, but IIRC, it was only a one score difference in the end. Chiefs: After going up 24-6 at one point, the offense once again absolutely falls apart. Chiefs chip away with only FG's to come back and win. 49rs: The defense was actually doing a pretty great job at containing the Kap attack until the devestating pick 6 to end the half. Another pick 6 in that game and theres 14 spots spotted to the opposing team. and it's pretty near impossible to throw points up to come back against a defense like that. Falcons: this was a pretty terrible offensive performance. dropped TD's, flags taking away TD's, Brees throwing 5 picks. and guess what, the final score was only a difference of 10 points. Defense more than held their own trying to keep us in that game Buccaneers: Defense absolutely dominated throwing a shutout Panthers: Defense even had the all-elusive pick 6 against Cam but the offense just couldn't keep up.

All in all, I'm not sitting here saying they don't deserve most of the bashing they got, but people need to take a look at the offense as well. They were sooooo horribly inconsistent. Obviously that can mostly be attributed to SP being gone, and I can only hope him being back with help both sides of the ball

What people fail to realize is that this team was good under GW. We should have went back to the SB in 11, but he started to get overly agressive and predictable with his play calls. Ryan run the same aggressive, but more organized attacking defense. The media and some posters are being misled by the system spags implemented last year which was a colossal failure. The players we have/had were a poor fit for his defense and it didn't help he was a total dick and the players didn't buy into his shite (looking at you, shanle).

All very good points. The offense still finished #2 in the league which is more than good enough to win the SB. I think that the offense and especially Brees felt additional pressure to produce so they pressed, causing mistakes. they were tight. The historically bad defense is what cost them the season last year IMO.

quote:The historically bad defense is what cost them the season last year IMO.

agreed.

Its a lot easier and a natural tendency for people to say, "that INT or dropped pass cost us the game" as opposed to "That 8 yard run we gave up" or "that 25 yard pass play we gave up" cost us the game.

There are mistakes on both sides of the ball to be sure. But there was a LOT more on the defensive side. They just arent as obvious adn tend to get a pass when ppl expect Brees to just outscore everyone.